Forster Rallies Supporters in Bid for Chairman’s Post

There is a race for Niagara County Democratic Party chairman – the party boss - in September.
Three men are running for the right more or less to handle Party affairs for the County of Niagara.  They are Gary Parenti, Interim Chairman Jeremy Schnurr and Nick Forster.

The Reporter was invited to a meeting of Forster and supporters last week at the LaSalle Sportsmen club.
We arrived to find the group already inside the meeting room. Passing through the dining room, we spotted Mayor Paul Dyster seated with someone in earnest conversation.

As we went into the meeting already in progress, we saw a sturdy-looking man in a blue suit, orange shirt, no tie and dark hair speaking to the audience. He was standing and moving around and his appearance was such that it is not altogether improbable that he could have been cast in a role in a 1950’s movie as a member of one of Humphrey Bogart’s gang: well dressed but ready to fight.

The place was filled. There were about 100 people there and only one table available and that one was up front. I would have preferred a quiet table in the back but it was either stand or sit at the table next to the speaker, within spitting distance so to say.

As I entered the room with my photographer, Anna Nicotra, heads turned at our late arrival and of course some recognition, since some people there were familiar with the Reporter. It would be fair to say we were about the last people they expected to see at Nick Forster’s meeting.

After all, the Reporter has not been especially supportive of many people there, including Mayor Dyster.
Within minutes of sitting down, two gentlemen brought notes up to Nick, which we later learned advised him that we were in the audience.

Forster, though perhaps not an orator by divine right, is an arresting speaker. He held his audience during his meeting which he promised would take less than 45 minutes. True to his word it wrapped up, according to his watch, in 43 minutes.
Among news he wanted to get out in what might be called a pep rally, was the announcement of who will serve on his executive board if he is elected.
Ida Massaro, long-time aid to former State Assemblywoman Francine Del Monte, would be his vice chairman. Jim Sacco, an engineer with the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and present Town of Pendleton chairman, would be Forster’s choice as his second vice chairman. Alicia Laible, a social worker, unsuccessful candidate for Niagara Falls City Council last year and a close ally of Mayor Dyster, was chosen as 3rd vice chair.

His treasurer would be Darryl DiNoto. Gerri Carpenter, Secretary. David Houghton will not be returning as Niagara Falls city chairman but would be recording secretary. Rick Williams and Nick Boyle will be Sergeant at Arms. Bill Gallagher, former correspondent for this publication and award-winning journalist, would be communications director. Fireman and lawyer Jason Cafarella and Lewiston lawyer Diane Roberts would act as special counsel to the committee.

This would be Forster’s second run as party boss. He served as city chairman from 1990-1995 and then as county chairman from 1995 to 2001.
In spite of the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans in Niagara County, there are only three Democrats among 15 members of the county legislature and only one Democratic mayor in three cities. Among the 12 towns and villages in the county, there is only one Democratic supervisor, James Reister of Pendleton. The rest are under GOP control.
When Forster left as chairman in 2001, the ratio was 50 percent, he said.

Forster said at the meeting, “Guess what folks, there are a lot of issues. There’s a ton. And guess what the reason for that? For the past 12 years, Republicans have had a great run. Haven’t they? Well, guess what? Things are changing. Things are changing you know! For 12 years, we had one of the highest taxed areas in the country. Niagara!”

“When I left the chairman’s role, we had 11 Democrats elected to the county. We are down to three Democratic legislators. People say that it will be difficult (to regain), Well, it will be hard. But guess what? We have to give our candidates the tools and resources that are necessary.”

During his speech, when Forster put on his glasses, I hardly ever saw a man more altered. He looked not like a well-dressed gangster but a college professor, filled with erudite thoughts and deep introspection.

“I like to smoke. I like to joke and I like to have fun,” he said. “But I also like to get work done….  A good leader can get people together and delegate. The successes of years back was not because of me alone but because of people who sat in the same chairs you are sitting in and did extra work… The message is clear: the GOP had a run of 12 plus years; the only way that can change is by good hard work, good, qualified candidates and good organization to support that.”

The election for party boss will happen after the primary on Sept. 13. Forster is not a done deal. At the primary, the voters of the Democratic Party will decide who their 339 committeemen will be and these committee members will, within 20 days after the primary, elect a party boss. Forster says he has 200 committed to him already. 150 of these have no primaries.

Forster told the Reporter more about the under-representation of Democrats in Niagara County.

“Not fielding the right candidates and not talking about issues,” he said. “There are a lot of issues we can talk about and the first one is taxes. When we are the most taxed community in the country and nobody says anything about it. That’s not something we’re going to do under my leadership. Tax relief is an absolute necessity.”

As the evening drew on, we hated to go but since we must, we said hello to everybody including Bruce Battaglia, former publisher of the Reporter, now engaged in the alternative energy business; former coroner Jimmy Joyce and his wife, the present coroner Cyndy Lou, Robert Clark of the town board of Niagara, Mickey Rimman, former party leader, North Tonawanda Chair Mark Houghton, union leaders Bill Rutland and Russ Quarentello, Lawyer  Craig Touma, and a host of others.

 On our way out the door we found Forster with Jim Sacco. Forster was smoking. The air was perfect and crickets in nearby fields were chirping loudly enough to drown out the sound of any political debate.

The Tax Foundation of Washington, D. C., in 2008 ranked Niagara County as the highest taxed county in America. I said ‘I will be satisfied with 80 percent tax relief.”

Forster laughed and said, “I like goals. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and trying to reach them.”